Jose Y. Dalisay Jr. (born January 15, 1954) is a Filipino writer. He has won numerous awards and prizes for fiction, poetry, drama, non-fiction, and screenwriting, including 16 Palanca Awards.
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Early life and education
Dalisay was born in Romblon in 1954. He completed his primary education at La Salle Green Hills, Philippines, in 1966 and his secondary education at the Philippine Science High School in 1970. For college, he went to the University of the Philippines, wherein he was a member of the UP Alpha Sigma. He dropped out of college to work as a newspaper reporter. He also wrote scripts mostly for Lino Brocka, the National Artist of the Philippines for Theater and Film. Dalisay returned to school and earned his B.A. English (Imaginative Writing) degree, cum laude from the University of the Philippines in 1984. He later received an M.F.A. from the University of Michigan in 1988 and a PhD in English from the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee in 1991 as a Fulbright scholar.
Literary career
Dalisay has authored more than 30 books since 1984. Six of those books have garnered National Book Awards from the Manila Critics Circle. In 1998, Dalisay made it to the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) Centennial Honors List as one of the 100 most accomplished Filipino artists of the past century. Among his numerous books are Oldtimer and Other Stories (Asphodel, 1984; U.P. Press, 2003); Sarcophagus and Other Stories (U.P. Press, 1992); Killing Time in a Warm Place (Anvil, 1992); Madilim ang Gabi sa Laot at Iba Pang mga Dula ng Ligaw na Pag-Ibig (U.P. Press, 1993); Penmanship and Other Stories (Cacho, 1995); The Island (Ayala Foundation, 1996); Pagsabog ng Liwanag/Aninag, Anino (U.P. Press, 1996); Mac Malicsi, TNT/Ang Butihing Babae ng Timog (U.P. Press, 1997); The Lavas: A Filipino Family (Anvil, 1999); The Best of Barfly (Anvil, 1997); The Filipino Flag (Inquirer Publications, 2004); Man Overboard (Milflores, 2005); Journeys with Light: The Vision of Jaime Zobel (Ayala Foundation, 2005); Selected Stories (U.P. Press, 2005); and "The Knowing Is in the Writing: Notes on the Practice of Fiction" (U.P. Press, 2006).
In 2026, Dalisay ignited a Philippine literary controversy when he defended his writer friend Alfred Yuson, who was mired in informal sexual misconduct accusations, by saying: "Looking at the books in my library, I wonder how many of them I would need to throw away if they were authored by people who, sometime or other, were accused of moral turpitude, political incorrectness, sexual misconduct, poor parenting, drunkenness, drug use, slovenliness, animal cruelty, greed, arrogance, general insufferability, or some such debility of spirit and behavior. I'll bet half these books would vanish in an instant. And then I would wonder if those left behind were as interesting as the ones now in the garbage."
Editor
Dalisay has also worked extensively as a professional editor. He served as Executive Editor of the ten-volume Kasaysayan: The Story of the Filipino People (Manila: Asia Publishing/Reader's Digest Asia [1], 1998). His clients have included the Asian Development Bank, the Ayala Foundation, SGV & Co., the National Economic and Development Authority, the Office of the (Philippine) President, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Philippine Airlines, and the Ramon Magsaysay Awards Foundation, among others.
Achievements
Dalisay has won 16 Palanca Awards in five genres. For winning at least five First Prize awards, he was elevated to the Palanca Hall of Fame in 2000. He has also garnered five Cultural Center of the Philippines awards for playwriting; and FAMAS, URIAN, Star, and Catholic Mass Media awards and citations for his screenplays. He also chaired the 1992 ASEAN Writers Conference/Workshop, in Penang, Malaysia. He was named one of The Ten Outstanding Young Men (TOYM) of 1993 for his creative writing. In 2005, he received the"Premio Cervara di Rom" in Italy for his extensive promotion of Philippine literature overseas. In 2007, his second novel, Soledad's Sister, was shortlisted for the inaugural Man Asian Literary Prize in Hong Kong.
He has received Hawthornden Castle, British Council, David T.K. Wong, Rockefeller (Bellagio), and Civitella Ranieri fellowships, and has held the Henry Lee Irwin Professorial Chair at the Ateneo de Manila University; and the Jose Joya, Jorge Bocobo, and Elpidio Quirino professorial chairs at U.P. Diliman. He has lectured on Philippine culture and politics at the University of Michigan, University of Auckland, Australian National University, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, St. Norbert College (Wisconsin, U.S.), University of East Anglia, University of Rome, London School of Economics, and the University of California, San Diego, where he was named Pacific Leadership Fellow in 2015..
After serving for three years as Chair of the English and Comparative Literature Department, Dalisay assumed the post of Vice President for Public Affairs of the U.P. System from May 2003 to February 2005. He returned to the post in February 2017 and retired in January 2019. He is currently a Professor Emeritus of English and creative writing at the College of Arts and Letters, U.P. Diliman, where he also coordinated the creative writing program. He was Director of the U.P. Institute of Creative Writing from 2008 to 2017. Aside from his weekly Arts & Culture column for the Philippine Star, he wrote political and social commentary for the newsmagazine Newsbreak and the San Francisco-based Filipinas magazine.
In 2017, the One UP-Jose Yap Dalisay Jr. Professorial Chair in Creative Writing was endowed in his honor by an anonymous donor at the University of the Philippines.
Notable works
Novels
Killing Time in a Warm Place, 1992
Soledad's Sister, 2008
"Soledad: Rocambolesco Romanzo Filippino" (Italian edition), 2009
"In Flight: Two Novels of the Philippines" (a combined US edition), 2011
La Soeur de Soledad, (French edition), 2013
Plays
Madilim ang Gabi sa Laot at Iba Pang Mga Dula ng Ligaw na Pag-Ibig, 1993
Pagsabog ng Liwanag/Aninag, Anino, 1996
Ang Butihing Babae ng Timog/Mac Malicsi, TNT, 1997
Screenplays
More than twenty produced screenplays, including
Miguelito, 1985
Ang Ika-Labing Isang Utos: Mahalin Mo Asawa Mo, 1994
Tayong Dalawa, 1994
Saranggola, 1999
Fiction
"Oldtimer and Other Stories" (Quezon City: Asphodel Books, 1984)
"Sarcophagus and Other Stories" (Quezon City: University of the Philippines Press, 1992)
"Killing Time in a Warm Place" (Pasig: Anvil Publishing, 1992)
"Penmanship and Other Stories" (Pasig: Cacho Publishing, 1995)
"The Island" (Makati: Ayala Foundation, 1996). With Jaime Zobel and Francisco Doplon.
"Selected Stories" (QC: UP Press, 2005)
"Soledad's Sister" (Pasig: Anvil Publishing, 2008)
"Soledad: Rocambolesco Romanzo Filippino" (Milano: Isbn Edizioni, 2009). Translated by Clara Nubile.
"In Flight: Two Novels of the Philippines" (Tucson: Schaffner Press, 2011)
"Pasando el rato en un pais calido" (Barcelona: Libros del Asteroide, 2012). Translated by Marta Alcaraz.
"La soeur de Soledad" (Paris: Mercure de France, 2013). Translated by Jean-Pierre Aoustin.
"Voyager and Other Fictions: The Collected Stories of Jose Dalisay" (Pasig: Anvil Publishing, 2019)
Essays
"The Best of Barfly" (Pasig: Anvil Publishing, 1997)
"Man Overboard" (QC: Milflores, 2005)
"The Knowing Is in the Writing: Notes on the Practice of Fiction" (QC: UP Press, 2006)
"Why Words Matter" (QC:Center for Art, New Ventures & Sustainable Development, 2019). With illustrations by Marcel Antonio.
"A Richness of Embarrassments and Other Easy Essays" (Quezon City: UP Press, 2020)
Nonfiction
"The Lavas: A Filipino Family" (Pasig: Anvil Publishing, 1999)
"Bandera: The Filipino Flag" (Makati: Inquirer Publications, 2004)
"Journeys with Light: The Vision of Jaime Zobel" (Makati: Ayala Foundation, 2005)
"Power from the Deep: The Malampaya Story" (Makati: Shell Philippines, 2005)
"Unleashing the Power of Steam: The PNOC-EDC Story" (Makati: PNOC-EDC, 2006)
"Portraits of a Tangled Relationship: The Philippines and the United States" (Manila: Ars Mundi Philippinae, 2008). With Jose Ma. Cariño and others.
"Wash: Only a Bookkeeper" (Makati: SGV Foundation, 2009)
"The Voices of the Mountain: The People of Mt. Apo Speak" (Makati: EDC, 2009)
"Decade of Reform, Decade of Innovation: The GSIS Under PGM Winston Garcia, 2001-2010" (Manila: GSIS, 2010)
"Builder of Bridges: The Rudy Cuenca Story" (Pasig: Anvil Publishing, 2010). With Antonette Reyes.
"With Hearts Aflame: The Christian Brothers in the Philippines, 1911-2011" (Mandaluyong: DLSP, 2012)
"A Man Called Tet" (Pasig: Anvil Publishing, 2015)
"Edgardo J. Angara: In the Grand Manner" (Quezon City: UP Press, 2015)
"Harvest of Heroes" (Manila: Land Bank of the Philippines, 2015)
Drama
"Madilim ang Gabi sa Laot at Iba Pang mga Dula ng Ligaw na Pag-Ibig" (Quezon City: UP Press, 1993)
"Pagsabog ng Liwanag / Aninag, Anino" (QC: UP Press, 1996)
"Ang Butihing Babae ng Timog / Mac Malicsi, TNT" (QC: UP Press, 1997)
Poetry
"Pinoy Septych and Other Poems" (Manila: UST Publishing, 2011)
Books edited
"Kasaysayan: The Story of the Filipino People, 10 volumes" (Manila: Asia Publishing, 1998). Written by various authors.
"The Likhaan Book of Poetry and Fiction" (Quezon City: UP Press, 1999). With Ricardo de Ungria, written by various authors.
"From Earth to Sky: The Life and Times of Hans Menzi" (Manila: Menzi Trust Fund, 2001). Written by Alya Honasan.
"A Promise to Keep: From Athens to Afghanistan" (Xlibris, 2003). Written by Arthur and Julie Hill.
"Remembering NVM" (Quezon City: University of the Philippines Press, 2004). Written by various authors.
"Fourteen Love Stories, with Angelo R. La Cuesta" (Quezon City: University of the Philippines Press, 2004).
"The Silk Road Revisited: Markets, Merchants, and Minarets" (Bloomington: Author House, 2006). Written by Julie Hill.
"Likhaan: The Journal of Contemporary Philippine Literature" (Quezon City: University of the Philippines Press, 2007). Written by various authors.
"Hidden Treasures, Simple Pleasures" (Makati: Bookhaven, 2009). Written by Jaime C. 9. Laya, Mariano C. Lao, and Edilberto B. Bravo.
"Shadow of Doubt: Probing the Supreme Court" (Quezon City: Public Trust Media Group, 2010). Written by Marites Danguilan Vitug.
"Our Rights, Our Victories: Landmark Cases in the Supreme Court" (Quezon City: Cleverheads Publishing, 2011). Written by Marites Danguilan Vitug and Criselda Yabes.
Honors and awards
Civitella Ranieri Fellowship
David T.K. Wong Fellowship for Creative Writing, University of East Anglia
Chamberlain Award
Milwaukee Fiction Award
American Poets Prize
Fulbright- Hays Scholarship
Hawthornden Castle Fellowship, Scotland
British Council Fellow to Cambridge
Word Festival (Australia)
Asia 2000 (New Zealand)
Centennial Honors for the Arts, Cultural Center of the Philippines
Ten Outstanding Young Men (TOYM) of the Philippines
Cultural Center of the Philippines Awards for Literature
National Book Awards from the Manila Critics Circle
FAMAS Award for Best Screenplay
Catholic Mass Media Award for Best Screenplay
URIAN citation for Best Screenplay
Star Awards citation for Best Screenplay
Palanca Awards for Literature
Palanca Hall of Fame Winner